Hi All just to let you all know that i have had yet another failed attempt an this summit (at least last time i made it to the foot of the hill).
The WX was perfect at my QTH so was looking forward to a great day out on the summit
However the valley road leading up to the car park was a sheet of black ice and the car ended up in a ditch,thankfully on the left side of the road if it had of been the right side i would of gone down an embankment and who knows where i would of ended up.
Lady luck was on my side yet again as the army were on exercise in the area and pulled me out with their land rover.
Think this will be my last attempt at this summit until next year
73
Keith M1VHT
I think you are jinxed with that summit, the same as me, hi. It was a relief to hear that you weren’t hurt in your accident, and good luck that the army lads were available to get your car out of the ditch. Fingers crossed for 3rd time lucky, hi.
In reply to M1VHT:
Hi Keith,
Got the pictures, thanks.
Checking the map, as near as I can tell, you came to grief at “Quickening Cote” NT 890 065… there’s a nasty deep gorge to right of the road…you’re lucky you didn’t go down that.
Mike… I did SB006 about a year and a half ago…mid week, and only got 6 contacts on 2FM, nothing on 2SSB…so yes it is a jinx
If I get up there again I may try HF… but I don’t like the cold weather…
In reply to GW7AAV:
Hi there, the car’s rear bumper was pushed in a little bit but i can live with that.
I too was pleased the good old British army was on hand to help as i couldn’t see the RAC pulling me out or even getting to me in one of their vans.
As G1TPO (Rob) said it could have been a lot worse if i had gone down the other side of the valley (much longer and steeper drop down there)
The WX forecast for tonight is up to minus 8 degrees in some places so i think i will have a lie in bed tomorrow and let the ground defrost 1st before i go out hi hi
73 Keith M1VHT
Glad to hear you are OK. Cars can always be fixed. It is a concern I have when activating this time of year. I’m lucky in that my car does have 4wd when it wants. However, road tyres even with 4wd aren’t that much better in snow that an 2wd car and on ice all bets are off. At one time (25years ago) I’d have not been concerned about the roads. I suppose now I’m more mature (ha!) I worry excessively on the way to and from some summits.
The question a sane person would ask why do I drive up nasty roads in nasty conditions. The answer is stand on the top of a good hill in its Winter coat on a day like today and drink in the view. Then you understand why!
Pleased to hear you are all okay and that the damage to the car is minimal. It is a very nasty road in bad weather conditions, even in early Spring when I experienced it in torrential rain and we turned back before we got to Shillmoor. I would not expect the road to have been gritted last night.
As Andy says, 4WD is fine… when you have grip. It is no real advantage on ice other than you might slide a bit straighter! That could be good or bad. I find it quite amusing when I hit gravel - the car slides sideways rather than the front or back swinging round… takes a bit of getting used to. The biggest advantage is that you can park on a reasonably boggy verge and have a good chance of driving away without thrashing it to a quagmire. Slightly less worrying when I am sat on a summit operating.
Shillhope will still be there when the weather is better. Maybe look for something a little less remote in the meantime.